The “boom” that awoke Kim Morrison at 4 a.m. Thursday “sounded different than thunder,” she said. “It was the loudest I’d ever heard.”
It was different, much different.
A bolt of lightning tore a two-foot hole in the roof of her and husband Jess’ home at 915 Pryor St., just above the living room.
Awakened, Morrison noticed that electricity was still on, from a bedside clock, and within a minute or two she heard a smoke alarm in son Cole’s room sound off.
She began checking the house and when she went into the living room, Morrison smelled smoke.
“I turned on the light and it was hazy,” she said. “I called 911.
“The firemen got there right away and had plenty of time to do what they had to do,” Morrison said, which included moving furniture and other belongings from the house.
“They were great,” she said. “They saved everything except the television set. The fire department was excellent.”
While structural damage mainly occurred in the living room area, the whole house was saturated with smoke.
“I imagine damage is going to be close to $30,000, but we won’t know until” after insurance adjusters have had opportunities to make assessments, Morrison said.
Drywall and carpet were removed from the living room and work to make the house livable again has started. Until then, Morrison and her family are living in the home of her mother-in-law, Marilyn Dietrich.
One silver lining, Morrison noted, “It could have been worse. No one was hurt.”
Lightning starts Iola home on fire
